DoT to lower reserve price in 4 circles

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will lower the reserve price of 2G spectrum in four circles — Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Karnataka — and complete the auction in this financial year.

In the auction that concluded last month, the four circles jointly had a reserve price of about Rs 7,000 crore for 5 MHz of spectrum in 1800 MHz band. There were no bidders at this price.

“There is no need to seek telecom regulatory authority of India’s (TRAI) recommendations again on reserve price,” said a DoT official.

TRAI first gave its recommendations on the reserve price in April. The government then sent back TRAI recommendations for reconsidering some of the important issues. The regulator sent its reply to the government.

Under the TRAI Act, the government can not ask the regulator to review its earlier recommendations again, said the official.

Through the 2G bidding that concluded last month, recently, the government was able to sell only 55% of the total airwaves available for auction. The government managed to get only R9,407 crore against R45,000 crore if the companies had bought all the spectrum at the reserve price. There was no bidder for spectrum in 800 MHz that is primarily used for CDMA.